The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi states and pensioners have differed over the delay in payments of the National Housing Funds (NHF) contributions to retirees.
This is disclosed in a survey conducted on the delay in the disbursement of the N500 million to state offices of the FMBN.
The federal government had recently released the sum of N500 million to pay for the housing fund refund to retirees through the Federal Mortgage Bank across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
While some retirees in the three states of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states in the South-East claimed that they were yet to receive any payments from the bank, the FMBN said that it had commenced payments.
A reliable source in the bank in Awka, Anambra State capital, said that the refund of the National Housing Fund (NHF) contributions to retirees in the state was being paid to the beneficiaries on a monthly basis.
The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “However, I want to let you know that we have started refunding the NHF to the benefitting retirees in Anambra state.”
“How I wish you will get some of the beneficiaries to confirm what I have said to you. The payments are done on a monthly basis, based on the application of the beneficiary. This is all I can tell you because I am not the head here,” the source said.
But Emmanuel Ndukuba and Vincent Obi, two retirees, responded in different interviews saying that they were not aware of the ongoing refund by the FMBN.
They said that they would approach the bank for further clarification.
It was a similar story in Ebonyi State as a cross-section of retired federal government workers in Abakaliki lamented the slow pace of processing their contributory housing fund after years of retirement.
The federal government retirees said that the development was not healthy and called on the federal government to intensify efforts at speedy payments.
Also, Amaechi Okorie, who retired two years ago in one of the federal government agencies, said that he had yet to receive any refund.
Mr Okorie said that he filled the relevant documents as required by the Federal Mortgage Bank but regretted that he had yet to receive any payment.
“I have done what they said I should do including filling the necessary documents as required by the bank and the law, yet two years after, I am yet to receive any alert on the issue. The essence of the housing savings is to enable civil servants to build their own house; how can that be possible if after retirement, it takes years to get a refund?,” he stated.
Similarly, Oliver Eke, another federal government agency retiree, noted that lack of efficiency in timely processing of the housing fund benefits urging all the relevant institutions involved in disbursing the refund to expedite action.
“We contributed this money during our active service years, now, it is taking ages to refund us in accordance with the extant laws establishing the National Housing Fund (NHF). The hardship the delay has imposed on the average retiree is better imagined than experienced. Most retirees in Abakaliki cannot even pay for a two-bedroom flat apartment let alone building a house of their own,” Mr Eke said.
Salome Onwe said that she retired four years ago and completed the filling and documentation as required, yet, she had not received the refund.
She said that she had been visiting the Abakaliki branch of the FMBN but had not received any positive response.
“The last time I went to the bank, they told me that they are still processing my documents and that they are currently migrating from analogue banking to digital banking, that soon I will receive my money. Since 2024 I went to the bank till now, no calls and no alert yet,” Ms Onwe noted.
When contacted for clarification on the delay, FMB manager, Abakaliki branch, Emeka Aroh, declined speaking on the matter insisting that a permission must be obtained from the bank’s head of corporate communication in Abuja before any comment from the branch.
He, however, dismissed claims that there was delay in payment of the national housing fund refund to the benefitting retirees.
“On information that will go to the press, we must get approval from our corporate communication in Abuja first; so, if you people can go to our corporate communication, they will write to us and give us approval to give out information,” Mr Aroh said.
However, an employee of the bank who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the bank was moving from analogue documentation to digital documentation hence causing a little delay in processing the documents of retirees for their payments.
An official of the Federal Mortgage Bank, Enugu branch, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, blamed the delay on the Integrated Personnel Payment Information System (IPPIS) to remit the amount contributed by the retiree to the national housing for onward transfer to the retiree.
It added that there were bureaucracies in the system whereby they would first receive the retiree’s application and transfer the same to its headquarters for processing and payment.
According to the source, some organisations will receive applications for refund from retirees and keep it for months while waiting for others that will retire in the year before sending it to the bank.
“We don’t delay in sending their applications to the headquarters but all these factors in one way, will delay it,” the source said.
Meanwhile, a retiree who also spoke on condition of anonymity said that the amount they said they would pay her was much lower than the amount in her passbook.
“The federal government has been owing me for months and when I retired and went for my housing refund, they told me that they had not received money from the government. Secondly, those that retired before me have not been paid. If you go there, they will ask you for different documents, if you present one, they request another. Their aim is not to pay you even after submitting the needed documents, they still delay the payment. When I visited there last time, retirees of other organisations were also lamenting,” the retiree said.
(NAN)
